What You Can Do
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11 Most Endangered
Historic Neighborhood Schools
Year Listed: 2000
Location: , *United States
Current Status: Endangered
Threat: Development, Poor Public Policy
Significance
The nation's older and historic neighborhood schools have touched the lives of tens of millions of Americans. Today, these treasured national icons and stalwart symbols of community pride are fast disappearing. From Stevens School in Washington, D.C., Corning Free Academy in New York, and Salazar Elementary in New Mexico to Alexander II Elementary in Georgia, Broadwater Elementary in Montana, and PS 109 in East Harlem, historic neighborhood schools are being demolished or deserted - the victims of deferred maintenance, consolidation, development pressure, inadequate government funding, policies promoting the construction of mega-schools in outlying locations, and an often misplaced belief in the superiority of new school construction.
Updates
In 2000, NTHP had heard from scores of communities that older and historic schools, often the anchor of traditional residential neighborhoods, were being abandoned and demolished at an alarming rate because of ill-considered policies that control school board decision-making and doom historic schools by mandating construction of huge schools set in a sea of parking lots and playing fields. Today, after years of concerted advocacy by NTHP and others, there is renewed hope for those who support the continued educational use of historic schools.
At the urging of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and others, the school facility industry’s leading institution, the Council of Educational Facilities Planners International, has published new standards that promote renovation and modernization of historic school buildings, including significant changes to acreage standards and siting recommendations. The Council’s new guidelines help local citizens, city officials, school board members, school district personnel, and land-use planners make informed decisions about school renovation and construction, allowing communities to invest responsibly in their schools while preserving their neighborhoods and conserving historic and natural resources. While progress has been made on the national level, thousands of school districts continue to undervalue our country's older and historic schools. Working with six selected organizations representing diverse states, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is undertaking a new project to encourage state-level policy to address the future of these educational facilities.
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